Virginia

Charlottesville to cull deer herd in city parks, WBDJ, Feb 14, 2019The city says it is continuing to work with a wildlife management specialist for the program to manage the deer population in the city. A 2018 initiative was successful, and the Charlottesville City Council approved the program in response to complaints concerning hazardous driving conditions, health concerns from Lyme disease, landscapes impacted by an overabundance of deer and the health of the local herd.

Charlottesville to Implement Deer Population Management Operation, NBC29.com. Feb 12, 2018Charlottesville is rolling out its deer population management operation. Under the cover of darkness, trained sharpshooters hope to take down between 125 and 150 of this overpopulating animal. Last March, City Council moved forward with the deer-curbing plan, citing hazardous driving conditions, health concerns, and environmental factors. The program will last six weeks, starting this month and going through March. But police aren’t saying which specific nights the sharpshooters will be out in the parks because they don’t want spectators to be around the area.

Residents Concerned About Fairfax County’s Use of AR-15s to Control Deer Population, NBCWashington, Nov 10, 2017Fairfax County Police Department’s sharp shooting team plans to use AR-15 rifles to kill deer in Loftridge Park and Clermont Park in the Alexandria area of the county from mid November to mid March. “Even though the police say they shoot down as it’s supposed to be safe, we just feel that you can’t ever rule out weapons malfunction or human error,” Alexandria resident Nancy Schoenig told News4. “Would you want somebody firing an AR-15 near your house? I mean think about it.”

Deer Management Season Set to Begin, Connection, Aug 15, 2017The presentation was divided into three major areas of impact by the wandering ruminants: safety concerns, health concerns, and ecological damage. It is within the first and third of these concerns that the numbers can best be gathered, analysed, and used to justify the county’s management program and aid in developing the best approach.

Deer Management Season Set to Begin, FairfaxConnection, Aug 14, 2017Counting the actual number of deer that populate Fairfax County might be an impossible task, but there are ways to calculate the impact that deer have on the community. That on-going data collection gives county officials the means to determine that the deer population is still “unsustainable for the health of the environment and the safety of our residents,” according to Katherine Edwards, Ph.D. Edwards is the county’s wildlife management specialist, and was one of three panelists who presented the details of the upcoming 2017-2018 Fairfax County Deer Management Program to a small group of citizens.

Bowhunters recruited to control Pr. William Co. deer population, Prince William Co. News, April 13, 2017Facing an unsustainable deer population that continues to grow, officials in Prince William County, Virginia, will ask bowhunters to grab their bows and arrows and participate in a program that is meant to control the population.

City sets aside money for professional deer hunters, Daily Progress, March 21, 2017After agreeing Monday to allow the public to hunt antlerless deer with bows and arrows within city limits during Virginia’s urban archery season, the Charlottesville City Council voted to use up to $50,000 to retain professional hunters to cull deer in the city. The issue of deer population control came before the council last summer after city residents raised concerns about the growing number of deer that they said are becoming a greater nuisance, causing property damage and increasing the risk for collisions and accidents on area roadways.

City OKs lethal tactics to cull deer numbers, The Daily Progress, Dec 19, 2016Charlottesville City Council has decided to go forward with addressing the city’s spike in the deer population and how to cull it. Prior to the council’s decision at its final meeting of 2016 on Monday, city staff made the recommendation that a lethal approach be adopted to cut down on the deer population, and the council agreed that it should involve both the means of urban archery and sharpshooting.

City mulls what to do about deer population, Daily Progress, Sept 20, 2016Four years after deciding to not institute any kind of deer population control measure, the Charlottesville [VA] City Council is revisiting the issue due to concerns about the growing number of deer, dead or alive, being reported on roads and neighborhoods in the city. During a public hearing Monday, an overwhelming amount of city residents, predominantly from the Meadowbrook Hills and Rugby neighborhoods, said they are in favor of the city taking some kind of action to manage the number of deer that are damaging personal property and posing a health hazard.

Bellair Bambis: Resident blames UVA for increased deer population, C-ville.com, Sept 15, 2016Bellair “has a serious problem” that is “absolutely” connected to the decision to stop bowhunting on the UVA properties, making them a haven for deer, says Shifflett. He has clients in Bellair, where they take out about 40 deer a year, as well as in a half dozen other subdivisions. The deer meat is donated to Hunters for the Hungry. “The biggest fear homeowners have is ticks,” he says. “I personally know seven or eight people who have Lyme disease.”

Centreville/Chantilly: Targeting Deer, The Connection, Sept 6 2016The Fairfax County Deer Management Archery Program begins on Saturday, Sept. 10 and runs through Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. Overseen by the Fairfax County Police Department and in collaboration with the Fairfax County Park Authority and NOVA Parks, the archery program is conducted in parks and other locations throughout Fairfax County. The archery program began in 2010 to reduce and stabilize the white-tailed deer population in the county to minimize safety and health hazards related to an overabundance of deer.

Fairfax County: Aiming To Reduce Deer Population, The Connection, Aug 18, 2016With an ecosystem struggling to support a deer population several times what’s considered to be healthy for a habitat, Fairfax County is preparing once again to initiate its deer management program. In addition to the pressure on the ecosystem, overabundant deer also pose hazards in the form of increased collisions with vehicles and the spread of diseases. The Fairfax County Deer Management Program employs methods permitted by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, including archery, managed shotgun hunts and sharpshooting.

Use of bows, arrows mulled to cull deer, Daily Progress, July 20, 2016From July 1, 2015 to July 18, 2016, there were 214 automobile crashes involving deer in Albemarle County. “This accounts for approximately 9 percent of the crashes during this timeframe,” said county police spokeswoman Madeline Curott. “Incidents occurring in the rural areas are double that of incidents occurring in the urban areas.”

Oh deer from motorcycle view, MyGuidon.com, June 15, 2016About 500 feet from the exit for Fort Belvoir, riding in the right lane on a poorly lit section of the road, I suddenly saw a gray mass in front of me. I had traffic in the lane next to me, so there was nowhere for me to go but straight. As I prepared for the impact, I thought, “Well, here goes!” The last thing I remember hearing was the sound of crunching plastic. When I came to, I was lying on the highway, unable to move. I knew right away I’d fractured my left clavicle. Suddenly, two people were lifting me out of the roadway. The pain of being lifted under my arms was so excruciating that I passed out again.

Chronic Wasting Disease plan approved for national park, News Leader, Jan 17, 2016A new plan has been approved to manage chronic wasting disease within the Shenandoah National Park. “However, we have a legal obligation to try to protect the ecological integrity of the park. Just as with invasive plants and insects, chronic wasting disease is a wildlife disease that does not occur naturally in this part of the country and needs to be managed to preserve the long-term viability of the deer population within Shenandoah.”

Fairfax deer-management effort again up and running, Inside Nova, Sept 15, 2015Under the oversight of the Fairfax County Police Department and in collaboration with the Fairfax County Park Authority and the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, authorities are conducting the archery program in parks and other locations throughout the county. Signs are posted in areas where archers are participating in the program.
The archery program began in 2010 and is part of an integrated Deer Management Program, which aims to reduce and stabilize the white-tailed deer population in Fairfax County and minimize safety and health hazards related to an overabundance of deer.

Deer Management Archery Program Starts Soon in Fairfax County, The Patch, Aug 10, 2015The Fairfax County Deer Management Archery Program begins Saturday, Sept. 12 and runs through Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. Under the oversight of the Fairfax County Police Department, in collaboration with the Fairfax County Park Authority and the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, the archery program is conducted in parks and other locations throughout Fairfax County.

The archery program began in 2010 and is part of an integrated Deer Management Program to reduce and stabilize the white-tailed deer population in Fairfax County in efforts to minimize safety and health hazards related an overabundance of deer. These impacts include thousands of deer-vehicle collisions, potential spread of diseases, and environmental damage attributed to deer that can impact the entire ecosystem.

Neighborhood bow hunting: It’s a bad idea, InsideNova, Jan 30, 2015So if bow hunting works, why would we be against archers taking down deer in our more densely populated areas? Because the county has absolutely no regulations attached to this new rule. Anyone can take a deadly weapon and hunt in places where there are tens of thousands of people, not to mention homes, schools, pets, playgrounds and parks. Fairfax County’s archery program, which enrolls more than 800 hunters, is highly regulated by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Hunters must pass a proficiency test and hunt in designated areas only. In 2013, the program’s total deer harvest was 1,022, without a single injury or accident.

No discharging an arrow from a bow across, or which lands, on a public right-of-way, street or highway.

No discharging an arrow from a bow within 100 feet of any regularly occupied structure without permission of owner or occupant.Chatham approves urban archery, StarTribune, Nov 12, 2014“For four years the deer have been ravaging my garden,” said Bishop, who was elected to a second term last week. “I’m willing to risk public humiliation to bring this up again.”

Bishop, who lives on Main Street, said she has received numerous complaints from residents about deer trampling across lawns, eating flowers and shrubs, and raiding gardens.

She also warned that deer pose a danger for pedestrians and motorists.

Bow hunters would have to register with police to hunt on town property and have written permission from landowners.

Reston permits a deer hunt in a residential neighborhood, update on Fairfax City project, Washington Post, July 2, 2014.…They polled the (human) neighbors and found much support for a controlled bow hunt, and after a public hearing last week, the Reston Association approved the hunt on three half-acre lots in the Hunters Woods section of Reston. Elsewhere, in Fairfax City where hunting is not allowed, a program to sterilize does captured about 30 percent of the females in its first phase, according to a newly released report. The report is included at the end of this article.

Sterilizing deer isn’t cheap, or efficient, Fredicksburg.com, Dec 28, 2013It costs, on average, about $1,000 per animal if all participants are paid professionals. Using volunteer veterinary help reduces costs by about half, DeNicola said. He said the Fairfax program would be funded by grants from “various animal welfare groups—basically the type of groups that run local spay- or neuter-your-pet programs.”

Are we helpless?

"The native plants are tramped down, the bushes are gnawed, and my three-year-old grandson can't play in the back yard because of the deer droppings. If humans entered our property and exacted such a toll we would have legal recourse We're watching the curb appeal and property value decline at a time when our taxes are rising. We are without defense."
M. Holland, Ann Arbor resident